AARP reports that recent research indicates that Baby Boomers and seniors are really feeling the effects of the economic downturn.
More than one of four middle-aged and older workers say they are postponing their plans for retirement.
Nearly 25% of people ages 45-64 are prematurely taking money out of the 401(k)s and other investments.
Younger boomers ages 45-54 are postponing paying bills and cutting back on medications.
Some six out of ten people age 65+ are having a hard time paying for food, gas and medicine.
More than a third of all retirees have had to help a child pay bills in the last year.
More than one in ten retirees have had to seek help from family or a charity in the last year.
More than 7 in 10 of older Americans who own stocks lost money in their portfolios in the last year.
Most survey respondents (58%) are not concerned about the impact of mortgage foreclosures on their financial well-being, but nearly 9 in 10 are concerned about the affect on the larger economy.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal also explores the current economic hardships on consumers, including older ones. The article says, “As consumers max out their credit lines and banks clamp down on lending, many older and middle-class Americans are resorting to pricey, often-risky alternatives to stay afloat.”
What do you think this means for businesses that sell or serve the mature market?
This report describes the emergence of what it calls a “New Mass Affluent” class and widens the lens for affluence by including households with incomes above $100,000 and income producing assets of $100,000 or more.
Of course, older Americans are among the most affluent. The report says of this group:
“The top-ranked segment, dubbed ‘The Wealth Market,’ most closely resembles the traditional portrait of old money. Filled with suburban couples over 65 years old, these 2.6 million households control a much larger share of assets in the country than their numbers would suggest. Some 48 percent of households in this segment have more than $2 million in assets—nearly 44 times the national average—and no other segment even comes close. Demographically, these super-rich tend to be married, white, older— more than 68 percent are over 55—and empty-nesters. Compared to the general population, they’re 10 times as likely to own common stock, nine times as likely to own municipal bonds and seven times as likely to use a broker at Merrill Lynch. No wonder ‘The Wealth Market’ members are sought after by everyone from yacht salesmen and custom clothiers to exclusive resort timeshares and, of course, all manner of financial services companies.”
This eight-page PDF report has loads of charts and interesting details about the consuming habits of modestly affluent and more affluent Americans. It is worth taking a look.
Eons.com, the social networking site frequented by baby boomers, recently surveyed its members about how they might use their “economic stimulus” checks from the IRS. The results tell us just how weak the American consumer is feeling.
The online survey found that:
44 percent of its baby boomer respondents plan to use their checks to pay bills or buy necessities such as food and gas.
17 percent said they will save it for retirement.
Slightly more than 9 percent plan to spend the money on travel.
About 8 percent plan to sink the money into retail therapy by purchasing items such flat-screen TVs.
Only 1.5 percent said they will spend the money on entertainment.
Jeff Taylor, founder of Eons.com, said, “The results are a little surprising given that boomers are considered the most affluent age demographic in America.”
What are you spending your check on? Are you a baby boomer? Let us know in the comments section below.
A recent issue of MarketingWeek featured Madonna, on the cover, and Bono at the top of an article on marketing to the over-50s. The editors and writer apparently shared some of the silly stereotypes about aging and suddenly woke up to the possibility that:
“So reaching 50 does not have to mean slipping on furry slippers and curling up on the sofa with a cup of warm cocoa. There is life in the 50-pluses yet, and where there is desire and aspiration, you can bet a marketer will be lurking close at hand offering a path to salvation through consumerism.”
The article explores recent advertising to older consumers but offers little new information to those of us who have been tracking older consumer marketing for a while.
We seem to be in movie houses, art studios and libraries this week as we find older people singing, filming, painting, and writing.
Sally - The Older Woman’s Illustrated Guide to Self-Improvement is a biography of Sally Pierone. Pierone is an 86 year old who has rediscovered herself through her art.
The fascinating biography of Pierone’s life is written by award-winning writer, Judy Laddon, and illustrated with Pierone’s paintings that are part carcaciture and part surreal visions that plumb below the surface to find nearly unconscious fears, joys, questions, and memories.
Eldr, the site for a wonderful magazine, carries an article about Pierone and a gallery of her paintings. Judy Laddon’s blog continues to chronicle Pierone’s life, and the book’s site provides reviews and more paintings.
Here is a very nice idea: A “Moving Pictures Film Club.” The creators of the club search the world for films that are “moving,” meaning that they encourage us to ask questions about life, aging, loving, living.
The club is pitched toward baby boomers and seniors, a group that is often sadly ignored by film makers and distributors. It provides a monthly DVD of one or more films with an introduction by a host and suggested activities at the end. The films are meant to be shared and discussed with friends and family.
Businesses that serve the boomer and senior markets might want to collaborate with the Moving Pictures Club to promote the film club or to use the films with customers, clients, or residents in retirement communities.
Not happy yet? Well, if you are over 80, you should be. According to a University of Chicago survey, people are happier when they are older.
The study, published in the American Sociological Review, found that people in their 80s had about a 50 percent chance of being very happy. Among 18 year olds, the highest likelihood of being very happy occurred among white women, with a 33 percent probability of being giddy with joy. The rest of the groups such as white men, black women, and black men have varying degrees of probability from 15 percent to 28 percent.
Researcher Yang Yang, reasoned that
“The increase in happiness with age is consistent with the ‘age as maturity hypothesis….’ With age comes positive psychosocial traits, such as self-integration and self-esteem; these signs of maturity could contribute to a better sense of overall well-being. Second, group differences in happiness decrease with age due to the equalization of resources that contribute to happiness, such as access to health care, Medicare and Medicaid…”
Baby boomers, unfortunately, were the least happy among those surveyed. Yang Yang suggests that boomer’s “…expectations were so great, that not everyone in the group could get what he or she wanted as they aged due to competition for opportunities. This could lead to disappointment that could undermine happiness…”
If you haven’t heard about the Young@Heart, bought one of their CDs, or seen their documentary, go immediately to this website for their story.
This rockin’ group has existed since 1982 but they are just now reaching the tipping point in the media. Ranging in age from early 70s to the late 80s, this group of singers tackles everything from broadway tunes to rock.
The group’s documentary was reviewed at Sundance in Jan of this year by the Boston Globe:
“And then there was “Young@Heart,” possibly the most rapturously received documentary here. British filmmaker Stephen Walker traveled to Northampton, Mass., to film the Young@Heart Chorus, a vocal choir whose average age is 80 and whose choice of material includes songs by the Clash, James Brown, Sonic Youth, and a lot of Talking Heads.”
I was able to see the documentary this weekend. I laughed, I cried, and I wanted to go sign up for this amazing group.
Play the clip below for a taste of these talented, joyful, and wryly playful seniors’ work.
Whenever I read articles or surveys about how older people are or are not using computers and the Internet, I think about the Elderbloggers.
Ronni Bennett, of As Time Goes By, maintains a list of “Elderbloggers” on her blog. It is a long list and getting longer. On weekends sometimes, when I’m just playing solitaire Scrabulous or wandering the Internet, I go to Ronni’s list and let my cursor drift until I land on a title. I click and maybe 30 or 40 minutes later I “wake” up after sampling the postings of a few Elderbloggers I’d never read before.
This past Sunday morning I read The Other Side of Sixty by “Wisewebwoman” in Canada. Wisewebwoman is a tax accountant who specializes in back taxes and saving her clients’ financial lives. And she blogs beautifully about living, friends, her tax work, memories and aging. Then there was an MD who wrote of having to break the news of cancer to a hearty 55 year old at The Doctor Is In. And, an ebullient blog by a happy man at Chuckography, who focuses on photography and lots of other things.
If you market to older people, you could do worse than sample a few Elderbloggers.
By the way, there are more than 20,000 bloggers on Blogger who list “retirement” as their occupation.
The Media Audit, produced by International Demographics, has a new survey that shows consumers over the age of 50 and with incomes of $50,000 or more, have increased from 17 million in 2004 to 22.3 million during the past five years.
The research report calls these consumers the “graying and affluent,” and says that this consumer segment has increased from 13.1 percent to 15.7 percent of all the households surveyed since 2004. Furthermore, Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, says, “….this group is very rapidly embracing the internet as a shopping medium.”
In the latest survey, 62.4 percent of the graying and affluent households have made at least one purchase on the Internet in the past year. That is up from 50.2 percent in the prior survey. More than 37 percent made five or more purchases on the Internet during the past year; and 20.1 percent made 12 or more purchases.
The increase in Internet shopping seems to be led by baby boomers who are rapidly becoming empty nesters. This group’s media of choice are newspapers and the Internet. More than 27 percent of the gray empty nesters spend an hour or more each day reading newspapers; and 38.7 percent spend 430 minutes or more each week on the Internet.
Other noteworthy data points include:
62.4 percent of the “graying and affluent” households have incomes of $75,000 or more; 38 percent had incomes of $100,000 or more; and 18 percent had incomes of $150,000 or more.
Households of this segment have fewer members than in the earlier survey, with the percent of “gray” households having one or two persons increasing to 63.5; households with 3 or 4 members decreasing from 31.2 to 29.7; and households with 5 or more members declining to 6.8 percent from 7.1 percent.
The survey also shows that affluent empty nesters eat out frequently, drink wine, often spend more than $30,000 on their automobiles, take ocean cruises, and visit casinos. Meanwhile supermarket expenditures are just average.
The number of affluent empty nesters varies greatly geographically. In this study, nearly 19 percent of the households in the Fort Myers-Naples market are affluent empty nesters; while only 8.9 percent are in Buffalo. The average across all markets in the survey was 12.5 percent.
Affluent empty nesters are not necessarily retired or even near retirement age. Some 24 percent are 65 years old or older; 38.7 percent are between 45 and 54; and 47.3 percent are between 55 and 64.
The research report says,
“The empty nesters are another example of the enormous impact the presence or absence of children has on almost all household expenditures….f they included children the weekly supermarket expenditures would be considerably higher and the wine, dine and casino expenditures much lower.”
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Fast Facts
*16 percent of the Millenial Generation reads a newspaper every day.; 72 percent of the World War II generation reads a newspaper daily.
*35 percent of baby boomers identify themselves as "conservative"; 25 percent of boomers identify themselves as "liberal"
Source: NewStrategist.com
*The population 65 and over will increase from 35 million in 2000 to 40 million in 2010 (a 15% increase) and then to 55 million in 2020 (a 36% increase for that decade).
*By 2030, there will be about 71.5 million older persons, almost twice their number in 2005.
*People 65+ represented 12.4% of the population in the year 2005 but are expected to grow to be 20% of the population by 2030.
*The 85+ population is projected to increase from 4.2 million in 2000 to 6.1 million in 2010 (40%) and then to 7.3 million in 2020 (44% for that decade).
Source: Administration On Aging
